Baby It's Cold Outside
by floatsodelicately
Summary: After the Weasley's Boxing Day party, Hermione can't make it home from Grimmauld Place.


_I really can't stay (Baby, it's cold outside)_  
_I've got to go 'way (Baby, it's cold outside)_  
_The evening has been (I've been hopin' that you'd drop in) _  
_So very nice (I'll hold your hand, they're just like ice)_

_… _

_I oughtta say no, no, no sir (You mind if I move in closer)_  
_At least I'm gonna say that I tried (And what's the sense in hurting my pride)_  
_I really can't stay (Oh baby, don't hold out)_  
_Oh, but it's cold outside_

**_Baby, It's Cold Outside – Rufus Wainwright & Sharon Van Etten_**

* * *

"Hermione, dear, could you help Remus with Sirius?" Molly Weasley asked quickly before she hurried away to tend to her guests.

The Burrow was packed with people, friends and family had gathered there on Boxing Day to celebrate the holidays, a tradition that started after the war had ended. The celebrations lasted late into the evenings and often into the early hours of the next morning and the party this year was more…rowdy…than it had been in previous years. This could have been put down to the sheer number of people, the crooked house was almost at full capacity and Hermione found it impossible to move at all without being dragged into another conversation.

_Or_ it could have been explained by the smirks on the twins' faces. They had spiked the punch. And the butterbeer. And just for good measure, they had slipped an experimental potion into the firewhiskey to make it stronger. All of this led to many of the guests getting very drunk, very fast.

Hermione looked around the room for Remus and Sirius to find the werewolf looking tired and seeming increasingly annoyed as he attempted to lead Sirius away from the coat stand he was clinging to. She saw that the others made no attempts to help as Harry was doubled over with laughter at seeing his godfather trying to cop a feel of the piece of furniture.

"But Moony, I love her!" Sirius cried dramatically, swatting his friends' hands away from him.

Remus sighed, "Well she'll be here tomorrow. You can come see her then, you need to get to bed."

Sirius turned to Remus but held onto the sleeve of a coat, "I'm not tired at all Remmy," he yawned.

"Remmy?" Hermione asked with a slight smirk.

"Oh, hello Hermione," Remus greeted her, "When he's drunk, I'm Remmy. I don't know why…what are you up to?"

Hermione gestured to Sirius who had returned his attention to his 'date', "Mrs Weasley said that you needed some help, I can see why."

Remus smiled at her in thanks, "I can't get him away from this bloody thing."

Hermione moved towards Sirius and put a hand on his shoulder, "Sirius, let's get you home," she said with the smile she usually reserved for dealing with little kids.

"Hermy! Remmy! Remmy, did you see that Hermy's here!" Sirius grabbed onto Hermione and pulled her close, not letting go of the coat.

"Yes, I did. Now le-"

"But Remmy, you wanted to see Hermy," he stopped to hiccup, "You wanted to see her and she's here."

Hermione looked to Remus questioningly but he only blushed slightly and looked away, "Sirius, come on-"

"Ok, ok," Sirius sighed, "We'll go home and you can put the moves on He-"

Remus shushed him quickly and grabbed his other hand, "Hermione, could you help me apparate him back, I've had…erm…" he faded out gesturing at his empty bottle.

"Of course, wouldn't want you two getting splinched now, would we?" she smiled widely and held onto Sirius tightly. With a twist, they apparated away to Grimmauld Place. When they landed, Sirius' eyes bulged and he squeaked in alarm, he slapped a hand to his mouth and ran to the nearest bathroom. Remus and Hermione both winced as they heard him retching from behind the closed door, Remus took out his wand and cast a silencing charm.

"Not going to help?" Hermione asked.

Remus chuckled, "No, he saw them spiking the drinks and still went for it."

"Hoping to teach him a lesson?" she giggled.

"He'll never learn, I tried a long time ago, I have now fully accepted that Sirius will always love a prank, no matter which side of it he's on."

The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed, alerting them to the late hour. Hermione looked at Remus and smiled, "I suppose that I should be going then."

She made a move towards the door and he stopped her with a hand on her arm, "I don't think it's wise to apparate, the butterbeer you had got the worst of the twins 'experiments'."

"But, we just-"

"There were three of us, if you tried on your own, you could very well end up in St Mungo's."

"I could floo home, I suppose," she suggested, looking down at her dress, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get the soot out of the fabric. She'd ruined a couple of her favourite dresses that way before and didn't want that to happen again.

"No dice, I'm afraid. The floo network in London is closed down for maintenance repairs," Remus said as he too looked at her dress. Sirius had been right, Remus _had_ wanted to see Hermione that night and seeing her in the dress that highlighted just how much she had changed since they first met as student and teacher had made her hard for him to resist.

"I could…walk home."

Remus smiled softly at her, "From here to Paddington? That would take you, what? 2 hours? It's snowing, too."

"It is cold outside," she conceded.

"Cold? It's bloody freezing," Remus laughed.

"Well," she started, looking at him with a mischievous smile, "I'll just have to stay here."

Remus grinned back, "Looks that way," he said before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her towards the kitchen.

* * *

Sirius staggered out of the bathroom an hour or so later having fallen asleep on the tiled floor beside the toilet. He walked out into the darkened hallway and hauled himself up the stairs towards his room. He was walking down the corridor and saw the light coming from under the library door. A quick glance at his watch told him that it was almost still in the early hours of the morning, he decided to see if Remus had fallen asleep in there again.

He opened the door and stepped inside, he made his way through the stacks of books that had accumulated there since Remus and Hermione decided that the Black family library needed to be catalogued and re-organised. In the soft candlelight he tripped over a pile of books and clutched the nearest shelf to stay standing.

He peered around the bookshelf to look at the sofa and saw Hermione sitting astride Remus' lap, mugs of hot chocolate laid forgotten on the coffee table. Remus pulled her in close for a kiss and in his shock, Sirius lost his grip on the shelf sending him tumbling to the floor.

"Sirius?!" Hermione yelped as she jumped off of Remus' lap and smoothed her dress down.

Sirius looked between the two before a Slytherin-worthy smirk spread across his face. He sauntered out of the room and called to them through the door.

"Don't forget the silencing charms!"

* * *

A.N. I'm not sure about this one, thank you for reading :)


End file.
